NEA President: stop playing politics with the lives of Dreamers

Hundreds of DACA recipients, including educators, will continue to lose protected status each day

WASHINGTON - January 22, 2018 -

Congress again failed to find a permanent legislative solution for our nation’s Dreamers despite bipartisan compromises in the Senate and House and overwhelming public support for the Dream Act.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement:

“Our fight isn’t about legislative posturing in Congress. It is about standing up for the values that we hold dear as a nation. The politics of inaction on a permanent solution to DACA are hurting real people. One hundred and twenty DACA recipients are losing their protected status each day that goes by. More than 16,500 DACA recipients have already lost their protected status—including educators—due completely to the cruel, unnecessary and anti-immigrant action by Donald Trump to revoke that protection. When DACA educators lose their protected status, they also lose their work permits. This unnecessarily prevents them from teaching our students and exposes them to deportation.

“We are deeply disappointed that Donald Trump and Congress again punted on DACA, leaving behind a trail of frustration, angst, and uncertainty among our Dreamers and their families. Stop playing politics with their lives. There are enough votes—from both sides of the political aisle—to pass this important piece of legislation now. We are not going away. We will not quit. We will not back down. We will continue to raise our voices to defend and protect Dreamers. And we will stay vigilant to make sure Congress does more than pay lip service to the promises they are making.”

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Keep up with the conversation at #DefendDACA

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Learn more at www.nea.org.

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